MLB Guide

Baseball is actually one of the easiest major sporting events in which to see a profit, as many longtime sports bettors will tell you. Jerry Patterson revealed as much in his book entitled “Sports Betting: A Winner’s Handbook”. In the book, Patterson states that bigger wins have been made on baseball betting than any other type of sports betting around.

Interestingly enough, baseball remains one of the major sporting events that is least wagered on. What is the reason for this? Most experts are of the opinion that many sports gamblers are hesitant to wager on baseball simply because they do not know how to do so. For many sports bettors­–even long time ones–the absence of a point spread and the confusing odds that are used in baseball wagering are enough to turn them off completely. The fact of the matter however is that baseball betting is actually quite easy.

Editors Note: When betting baseball it is key to play at a sportsbook that offers dime lines or reduced juice this is key to making a profit in baseball. Two of the best reduced juice sportsbooks are 5Dimes and BetPhoenix you should try to have an account with both these books to get the best lines.

Also make sure to choose the reduced juice options when signing up, with 5Dimes you email or call them after you’ve signed and tell them which bonus you want so tell them you want the reduced juice bonus.

One of the first things that everyone who is looking to take up baseball betting has to do is gain familiarity with how the money line works. Keep in mind that long time bettors and professional gamblers will rarely give odds that are greater than -140 when betting on baseball. In addition, they will also always look for reasons to bet for the underdog. The reason for this is that betting only on the underdogs will make you come out ahead in the long run, even though you win less than half of your bets.
About the Run Line

This has been the source of a little bit of confusion in baseball betting but the run line is simply a combination of the point spread and the money line. Not to worry though, once you see how it works, it is really not as confusing as it may seem.

The important thing to remember is that the run line usually uses a constant spread of 1.5 runs. In some cases though, you may see a jump to 2.5 runs. Any baseball team that is favored on the money line will be favored on the run line as well.

Taking as our example the Royals playing at the Red Sox, you can generally expect to see odds similar to the ones below on the regular money line:

Kansas City Royals

+165

Boston Red Sox

-180

What these odds mean is that Red Sox bettors will actually be risking $180 in order to win $100. Bettors who are betting on the Royals on the other hand risk $100 in order to win $165.

Things will look slightly different when you are betting with the run line as you can see below:

Kansas City Royals

+1.5 -125

Boston Red Sox

-1.5 +105

Now in this particular scenario, people who are betting on the Royals are in fact risking more money than they will win. Following the example given above, they will actually risk $125 in order to win $100, but over 1.5 runs. Therefore, even if the Royals lose by one run, bettors who are betting for Kansas City on the run line will win the bet because of the 1.5 runs.

Let’s look at another example. In this situation wherein the road team is favored–in this case the Padres and the Giants–the odds on the game will look something like this:

San Diego Padres

-115

San Francisco Giants

+105

Now on the money line, bettors who are betting on the Padres risk $115 in order to win $100. Giants bettors on the other hand risk $100 in order to win $105. When using the run line however, the odds would look more like:

San Diego Padres

-1.5 +135

San Francisco Giants

+1.5 -155

You may have noticed that the odds for the Padres didn’t change as much (-115 to +135) as the odds did for the Red Sox (-180 to +105). The reason for this is that Red Sox–as the home team–will not bat in the bottom of the ninth inning if they are leading by one run…or else they would stop batting in the ninth inning if they are ahead by a run. This would be the case even in a situation wherein the bases are loaded and there are no outs–unless of course the team will score by home run.

The Padres, as the road team, on the other hand–will bat all the way through the ninth inning even if they happen to be already ahead of the Red Sox. Furthermore, if the Padres have a one run lead in the top of the ninth inning, they will continue to swing in order to add to their lead.